S3 E 8: Execute
"I want in. I want what means something.”
This week Sonia Van Meter all but loses patience with a Star Trek that was looking more and more like Star Wars. Did it gather itself and finish strong? “It’s as though the writers suddenly remembered to open the nozzle on the Star Trek juice firehose, she writes. Find out why she ended up “blubbering like a toddler.”
by Sonia Van Meter
When a catastrophe happens and our backs are suddenly against the wall, it’s easy for people to revert to primordial instincts and ignore the rest of the world. In our hurt, we want only to alleviate our own suffering, and if we know resources are scarce, our survival instinct can tell us we need to be strong and do whatever’s necessary to keep going no matter how sinister that “whatever” may be. But invariably that kind of behavior only makes the recovery harder, for the individual and for the rest of the afflicted. Looking out for the self might be the instinct, but without consideration of the community, we often end up prolonging our own suffering as well as the suffering of others. In the face of tragedy, we have to make a decision about how we want to see our way through the wreckage. Do we put ourselves first or do we think about how our actions will affect those around us? Adopt a “me first” attitude, or make the welfare of our group the priority?
In short, whose voice do we want to listen to-- the angel on one shoulder, or the devil on the other?
As usual, Star Trek has the answer for us.
We open in Sick Bay where Philippa is having a conversation with Dr. Culber about her deteriorating health situation with which she totally doesn’t need anyone’s help thank you now piss off before something bad happens to you. But Culber, ever the trained professional, isn’t having any of her attitude. She’s throwing up every defensive wall she can, including threatening Culber’s fictional children, but Culber bats that nonsense right back in her face with some really delicious doctoral formidability. If she’s in his office, it’s because she needs help, and all the posturing in the world won’t change that fact. I know I’ve said this show doesn’t showcase Philippa enough, but it sure as hell doesn’t feature Culber enough either. Anyone that committed to the mental well being of his community needs more celebration.
The show wastes no time getting to the meat of the episode. Book’s brother Kyheem has messaged-- he needs Book back home right away. Osyraa, the leader of the Emerald Chain (the same wretched group that enslaved people at the salvage yard in episode 6), has had influence over Book’s home world Kwejian for years. For most of those years, Book’s brother has been able to manage Osyraa’s demands. Now out of the blue he’s asking for Book’s help. That can’t be good. When Book tells Burnham all of this, naturally she wants to help. They take their case to Saru and the Admiral.
The Emerald Chain has become the interstellar mafia of the 32nd century, and to quote the Admiral, they’ve “turned violations of the Prime Directive into an art form.” They approach pre-warp planets and offer them things they shouldn’t (like advanced technology) in exchange for things the planet can’t really afford to lose (like precious resources). The damage to these societies is always horrific, and according to the Admiral there are at least 50 star systems currently being manipulated like this by the Emerald Chain. Unfortunately Star Fleet no longer has the manpower to handle a problem of that scope. But Burnham implores him on Book’s behalf-- they have to do something.
We open in Sick Bay where Philippa is having a conversation with Dr. Culber about her deteriorating health situation with which she totally doesn’t need anyone’s help thank you now piss off before something bad happens to you.
The Burn damaged subspace in a way that shifted the orbit of Kwejian’s moons which created tidal changes on the planet. Sea locusts came out of the ocean and began eating the planet's harvests, leaving millions of inhabitants starving. Along came the Emerald Chain gang, led by Osyraa. She offered a solution-- repellant. It was supposed to be a humane way of getting the locusts back into the sea. In exchange, Osyraa wanted the planet’s tranceworms (those giant beasties Book was trying to save in episode 1). Why? Who knows? Maybe they’re tasty. Maybe they make fun pets. Regardless, the planet was so desperate that Book’s brother agreed to Osyraa’s terms. But as with all deals with the Devil, once you’re in his debt, you’re in his pocket. The planet believed they had no other choice-- it was either deal with Osyraa or watch their people starve. And now Osyraa is back, and she wants more.
Saru proposes quite possibly the most Saru course of action ever: Discovery can go to Kwejian under the technical designation of “observers,” like they’re the blue helmets of the UN or something. He suggests that if there is a Federation presence, Osyraa might be inclined toward a more diplomatic approach. For once, Saru’s gentle nature doesn’t seem diplomatic, it just seems plain silly. The woman running the most notorious outfit in the galaxy doesn’t strike me as the kind of gal to be persuaded of anything she’s not already inclined to, but I’m not Star Fleet. Or Saru. Somehow Vance seems open to it though, which makes me question both his leadership and his character. For a guy who’s supposed to be in charge, he seems to be awfully floundering until someone from Discovery comes along and proposes bold action. Humans really are a diminished species in this century.
But let’s have a little fun first, shall we? As Discovery prepares for its jump to Kwejian, Saru strolls the halls with his new First Officer Tilly and runs through the daily minutiae. The two are adorable. I would liken her to a puppy following her owner around, except the only real reason she looks like that is because she seems to “scurry” relative to Saru’s slow willowy lope. Also no puppy knows quantum physics like Tilly. After dispensing with a few details, the conversation moves onto quite possibly the most adorable topic ever conceived on this show-- which phrase Saru wants to adopt as his signature “let’s roll” declaration. In Next Generation, Picard’s was “make it so.” Voyager’s Janeway’s was “do it.” That Saru is dedicating so much consideration to this decision, indeed making it a conscious and studied decision at all… my god I love this man. He’s led an entire crew almost a thousand years into the future, earned the love and respect of his ship, beaten unfathomable odds, and done quite literally what no one else in the universe has ever done, and still he worries he’s not measuring up to the other star fleet hall of fame captains. I MUST HUG HIM.
My god I love Saru. He’s led an entire crew almost a thousand years into the future, earned the love and respect of his ship, beaten unfathomable odds, and done quite literally what no one else in the universe has ever done, and still he worries he’s not measuring up to the other star fleet hall of fame captains. I MUST HUG HIM.
Saru and Tilly are summoned to engineering where Stamets has unlocked some mysteries about The Burn. The computer has incorporated the SB-19 data with the data from the three black boxes Burnham and now determined, definitively, where The Burn originated. It’s the Verubin nebula (not near Ni’Var, you silly Vulcans.) But wait, there’s more! There’s an audio signal coming from the center of that nebula, an audio signal that sounds... like music. But wait, there’s more! It’s not just any music. It’s familiar. In fact it’s the song that Adira played on her cello. The same tune the Barzan mother on the seed ship was humming to her child on the recorded holoimage. And the computer has detected this frequency since they first arrived in the future. Saru is having a peculiar biological response to the audio, and the more he dissects it…
Oh my god. It’s not just any signal. It’s a Federation distress signal.
So clearly Discovery has some investigating to do. But first, we must SWOON AND WHIMPER over the magic of the young Adira, who upon being referred to as “she,” gently tells Stamets that she’s “never felt like a she or a her.” And that she, perhaps as a vessel of the memories of 6 other individuals, would actually prefer the pronouns “they” and “them.”
I have always loved how science fiction, and Star Trek in particular, can take hot-button social issues and defang them so easily. They’ve tackled race, religion, bodily autonomy, and now gender identity. So Adira wants different pronouns. Cool. We accept it and move on. Sure, it might be easier to imagine calling and individual a “they” when you know they have the histories of seven other beings inside them, but once again Star Trek isn’t screwing around when it comes to the dignity of people, in their universe, or ours. And they address it quite deftly. They take care to show that Adira is struggling with their identity, that they’re reaching out looking for guidance and support from others. That they wrestle with recognizing the self both within and separate from all the other identities dwelling inside them. It’s, in my ever humble opinion, an honest and sympathetic portrayal of nonbinary people.
I have always loved how science fiction, and Star Trek in particular, can take hot-button social issues and defang them so easily.
Back on the bridge, the crew is ready to go. Saru declares Black Alert. Burnham and Book take their stations. The camera zooms in on Saru. We wait with bated breath for his new captain catch phrase. And with an almost gleeful energy, he lets us have it.
“Execute!”
Woof. That wasn’t it Saru.
Moving on.
Spin. Flash. Kwejian. Discovery hails the planet and gets no response. Wait, nobody’s home on the entire planet? That can’t be good. Sensors indicate a giant ship roughly 30 minutes away. It’s the Viridian, Osyraa’s ship, and it’s armed to the teeth. Saru doesn’t hesitate- he gives Burnham orders to assess the situation on the planet and see how they may be of assistance, but to get the hell back on board at the first sign of any trouble. I cannot fathom how he trusts Burnham to not exceed the limits of this particular mission, but off she and Book go.
In Saru’s ready room, Tilly and Saru discuss how long Discovery will be able to track Burnham and Book’s location before they lose tracking ability to the planet’s defense system when in barges the Ryn, the Andorian that Book brought with him from the salvage yard. He bellows “which one of you is the captain?” and reader, the only reason I’m even writing about this scene is because Tilly, with more swagger than I have EVER seen her bring, casually brushes him back with “Uh uh. Try again, this time with the respect the rank deserves,” and honest to god I was a little turned on. Awkward Tilly finding her footing as First Officer is the success story every insecure Gen Z kid needs to see and I am absolutely reveling in it. GETCHU SOME, YOU FLOPPY HAIRED NEWBIE POWERHOUSE.
On the planet, which is absolutely beautiful, the locusts are indeed everywhere. They glow and float about like something out of James Cameron’s Avatar. They’re beautiful despite their menace and, get this, Book can communicate telepathically with them. As in, he mentally asks, and they move out his way. But just as a potential solution to the locust problem might be dawning on more savvy members of the audience, out jumps Book’s brother, along with his merry band of misanthropes, and Burnham and Book are taken into their custody.
GETCHU SOME, YOU FLOPPY HAIRED NEWBIE POWERHOUSE.
So this is Kyheem, Book’s brother (not biological, it turns out, which makes sense because while Book’s accent is clearly from London, Kyheem speaks with the sumptuous and borderline unintelligible patois of a Cuban.) Kyheem calls himself the keeper of the sanctuary, which appears to be some kind of animal preserve, probably for those tranceworms he’s been selling off to Osyraa. And he’s living very comfortably, which Book observes with more than a little disdain. Apparently selling out to Osyraa is a good living. Kyheem swallows his provoked anger and tells Book why he called for him: Osyraa wants Ryn, the Andorian with the severed antennae, back under her thumb. And if Kyheem doesn’t deliver, Osyraa will stop bringing the locust repellent to the planet, which means Kwejian will once again lose all its crops to the locusts.
Book tells Kyheem he won’t sell Ryn back into slavery. Kyheem snarls that Book is putting the life of a single man ahead of the needs of his own world. Book fires back that if Kyheem keeps selling out tranceworms, Andorians, even his own brother, it won’t be long before Osyraa comes for Kyheem and there won’t be anyone left to defend him. And if that sounds vaguely familiar, well, it’s probably not an accident.
Meanwhile back on Discovery, Osyraa’s ship is now in orbit and demanding the return of Ryn, the Andorian with all the attitude. Saru tells her he didn’t realise Ryn was wanted by any entity currently recognized by the Federation, and Osyraa laughs in his face. “Out here we don’t bend to that kind of hubris.”
Okay, exactly how far HAS the Federation fallen that gang activity like this is so… uninhibited? Saru tries to keep the conversation polite by asking questions about Ryn’s crimes, offering that if Ryn is indeed in the wrong, the Federation will hold him accountable. Osyraa’s response is telling. “The Federation can’t even hold itself accountable for the mess it’s made or the blood on its hands.”
Touché.
The longer we endure this Osyraa woman, the clearer things become. She’s an old school kind of evil. After several episodes of watching people tremble at the mere mention of her name, we’re finally watching her operate, and the woman is stone cold. She made Kyheem sell out her brother in order to bring the Andorian back to her, but Book showing up with a Federation ship complicates the matter. So since she can’t force Discovery to cough up her prize, she’s got a new plan: burn up the planet photon torpedo by photon torpedo until Kyheem forces Discovery’s hand. All for her slave. Just for her prize. This is a much better depiction of an “evil woman” than we usually get in sci-fi shows, where most of the time the woman is hypersexualized, power drunk, and reliant on a posse of men around her to carry out her bidding. When she starts talking about her own people having once been enslaved, we see the source of her diabolism. Osyraa learned long ago the lesson that there’s no nobility in suffering. You do what you have to do to survive. And she’s not just surviving, she’s thriving. At the cost of everyone and everything else.
This is another episode that seems a little more Star Wars than Star Trek, and this time, unfortunately, I do not mean that as a compliment. There was a lot of season arc plot development crammed into this one episode, and it was dotted with lots (maybe even too much) action and fighting, and I was enjoying it, sure, but it wasn’t exactly moving me. And then it’s as though the writers suddenly remembered to open the nozzle on the Star Trek juice firehose, because from here to the end of the episode it’s one heartstring tugging scene after another until I’m blubbering like a toddler. You’re shocked, I can tell.
It’s as though the writers suddenly remembered to open the nozzle on the Star Trek juice firehose, because from here to the end of the episode it’s one heartstring tugging scene after another until I’m blubbering like a toddler. You’re shocked, I can tell.
First, Saru decides that he’s not going to let Osyraa take Ryn, even while she’s threatening an entire planet with extinction, because his integrity and the integrity of whatever remains of the Federation cannot be traded for. And while this will almost certainly start a war between the Emerald Chain and the Federation, Ryn is so moved by the gesture that he stops being an obstinate jerk and finally offers to help in a way that only he possibly can.
Then, Tilly comes up with a brilliant idea to sidestep the Admiral’s orders to not engage in hostile action against the Chain by suggesting an experienced pilot take Book’s ship, which is just chilling out in the cargo bay, and attack Osyraa’s ship to get her to stop carpet bombing the planet. It’s not simply a genius strategic move, further cementing the crew’s rightful faith in their First Officer as well as Tilly’s own self confidence, it makes very public the First Officer’s faith in the incredible pilot she has in mind for the mission-- the self-doubting Detmer.
And once again, Trek sees to it that integrity and faith are rewarded. Detmer digs deep, drawing strength from Tilly’s trust, and remembers who she is- the baddest badass pilot in all of Star Fleet. She turns to Ryn, who’s guiding her with intel of the opposing ship’s weaknesses, and lets him know he’s not alone in his fear, but that she’s going to trust him right now, and she needs him to trust her.
Folks, there is nothing so beautiful as an insecure person finding their mojo, and Detmer has just unlocked a new level. I am verklempt.
Back on the planet, Book and Kyheem have held back their anger at one another as long as they possibly could, but with Osyraa’s torpedoes raining down around them, they are pushed past their limits. As they brawl with one another, they each accuse the other of selling out their planet, of putting themselves before the needs of others, of abandoning the values of their own family. But Detmer has proven effective in her assault. When the torpedoes stop, Kyheem looks up to see Osyraa’s planet leave orbit. He collapses in defeat, certain that his planet, now running out of Osyraa’s locust repellent, will most certainly starve in the coming famine.
But this is Trek, and we never let hopelessness like that stand. Not while Discovery is still around. If a single man, a single telepath, can move a whole swarm of locusts out of his way, what could TWO telepaths with the amplifying force of a star ship behind them do?
This will require Book and Kyheem to put aside their differences for the sake of the greater good and collaborate in an endeavor that’s never before been attempted and is well beyond what any two people should be able to achieve.
But that, my friends, is what the Trek is all about.
Moments later, with the help of Discovery, the entire locust population has voluntarily returned to the sea, and two brothers have found a way to reconcile 15 years of feeling hurt, betrayed, and abandoned.
Adira has begun an extraordinary journey toward self actualization. Detmer has regained her confidence. Tilly has grown into leadership. Book and his brother have forgiven one another, and Book has realized that while Kwejian will always be home, Discovery is where people work to protect places like Kwejian, and that’s a place he wants to be. And even the bitter Andorian looks around and realizes that maybe the Federation isn’t the two-faced predator he once believed them to be. They put all of their lives on the line to protect him when he was alone. Perhaps those are people worthy of a little faith after all.
And because I’m not already a whimpering mess, we get one more look at how family is created and how change doesn’t have to be scary when Stamets and Culber look on as Adira sleeps, and talk about them, over and over, using their preferred pronouns, driving home again and again with every pointed “they” and “them” that accepting someone who seems different from us isn’t about what we might be comfortable with, but about affording them the dignity to be themself. INTO MY VEINS, as the kiddies say!
INTO MY VEINS, as the kiddies say!
For this entire season, the Federation has been at best a shadow of its former self, and at worst thought of as dangerous (the Burn), unaccountable (for their behavior in the aftermath), and even deceitful (just ask Ryn). But with the crew of Discovery bringing back the full force of the original Federation ideals and putting their own bodies in harm’s way to protect those who can’t give anything in return, we’re starting to see that people’s minds can indeed be changed. And as the Federation extends back out into the galaxy, and Discovery continues their good work, more and more people, like the forgotten mining colony from episode 2, like the warring factions of humans from episode 3, like the Trill and the Kwejian, even BOOK himself, are reassessing their relationship with the Federation and even being called to the cause. Maybe True Believers aren’t necessarily fanatics anymore. Maybe they’re just people who truly believe in helping others. And with a massive dilithium shortage cutting off good people from one another, and pushing people to think of themselves before others, bad people are the ones taking up all the leftover space.
If this episode has a central theme, it’s that fear spreads like a virus, but so can hope. And it will spread. When enough good people have done enough work, when there is enough example of folks being willing to put the needs of others ahead of their own safety, hope will return to even the most hopeless of places. Hope is the first step towards creating both community and positive change. It won’t do the work for you, but it’s an essential ingredient. I spent most of this episode thinking it was a bit of a mess. Too much action, almost no diplomacy, lots of pissed off distrusting people all squared off against one another. But Book’s final sentiment on his new impression of Star Fleet really brings home what I love so dearly about this show.
“Discovery saved my planet from something that had us for a century… what the Federation’s done for us, for other worlds like ours-- I want in. I want what means something.”
Me too, brother. Me too.
Sonia Van Meter, Larry Wilmore’s nemesis, is an award-winning political consultant, a partner in the Truman National Security Project, and former aspiring Mars colonist. Follow her on Twitter at @bourbonface.
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